


underneath there's a human

by voidargxnt (marveladdict)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Lacrosse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Original Character, Protective Derek, Softball
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 16:45:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8808325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marveladdict/pseuds/voidargxnt
Summary: ❝ woken up like an animalteeth ready for sinking. ❞-during the summer before her sophomore year of high school, Graelynne Nashoba and her family move to Beacon Hills, California for a new start in life on her mother's job transfer. they wanted to leave behind everything in Michigan and make a new path on the west coast, far away from everything horrible they've seen. but of coarse, her world will be tipped upside down when there is half a body discovered the night before the first day school.-"native american legend says that i should be able to feel the bonds between anyone i am close with, and that the bond to my mate is like a flaming string amongst white ones; pulsing and alive and thrumming with feeling.""yeah, that's true.""then why can't i feel it.""because legend also says that your mate has to accept that you're their's, or else the connection won't be established; they have to accept all of you."





	1. prologue; new neighbor

It was during the summer before Scott and Stiles' sophomore year when a large moving truck came to the two story house down the street from Scott. The house had been empty for years, sitting on the edge of the woods. Soon after, two cars pulled into the driveway: a dark gray Honda Pilot and a maroon Chevy Sierra hauling a small trailer behind it with a few things. The first car held a woman who seemed to be in her late forties with a boy in his very early teens and a small six year-old girl with wild curly hair. Two dogs then jumped out of the car, dashing into the house barking at each other. Then, finally, a girl with long brown hair got out of the truck. She looked to be around Scott and Stiles' age and judging from the bat sticking out of a duffel, she was also a softball player. The little girl ran up to her and put her arms in the hair, causing the teen to pick her up. The family disappeared inside to point out to the movers where everything should be put.

The two boys went downstairs to tell Melissa about the neighbors but once they goo the kitchen, she was already whipping up a batch of brownies. She glances up for only a second to acknowledge the two.

"Are those for the new neighbors?" Scott asks, pointing to the bowl filled with liquid heaven.

"Sure is. And when I'm done, both of you will take it over to them." She answers without looking up. Scott hums in response and the two file out to the beat up Jeep parked on the side of the road. The two take a glance at the house and stare for a moments at the teenage girl perched up in a tree; a Dean Koontz novel in one hand and a silver, trainer butterfly knife being flipped away in the other.

The two had gone to the video store to rent a couple of movies for the night to kill time waiting for the brownies and by the time they got back, the girl was no longer up in the tree. Scott's mom had already left for work and stacked the brownies beautifully on a paper plate.

"Alrighty then, let's go meet the new neighbors with a potential love interest for one of us." Stiles blurts as Scott picked up the plate.

The moving truck was gone by now, leaving the two cars in the driveway. As soon as they rang the doorbell, two giant masses of yellow fur barreled into the door, barking continuously. A few shouts were heard before the dogs were shoved back and the door was opened to reveal the girl in track shorts, a t-shirt and an over-sized flannel. Half of her hair was precariously pulled back into a sort of bun and her face was free of any makeup. The boys were stunned for a moment before Scott snapped out of it.

"Hi, um, I'm Scott and this is my friend Stiles. I live a couple of houses down with the blue Jeep parked in front of it." The girl stuck her head out a smidge to look and nodded.

"Well it's nice to meet you guys. I'm Graelynne but I just go by Grae. My family and I just moved here from Michigan on my mom's work transfer." She holds her hand out and Scott shakes it first, then Stiles.

"Uh, my mom made you guys come brownies as a 'welcome to the neighborhood' kind of thing. I think she even put her number on the bottom of the plate." He hands over the plate to her and she smiles.

"Aw that's sweet. Tell your mom we said thank you," she looks up and into the house, taking a second and shrugging. "Do y'all wanna come in and meet the family?" She asks, her left eyebrow raising. There's a slight smile on her lips, almost as if she was testing them.

"Sure, why not?" Stiles says with a smile on his face. Grae's smile widens and she opens the door for them, pushing back the dogs.

"The skinny one is Arden and the fat one is Riley. All they wanna do is lick y'all to death so don't be scared to go down and pet them, they would love you forever," she says and releases they masses of energy and fur. They come charging after the boys, stopping right at their legs with their tails wagging viciously. Arden has a bright red collar and Riley has a soft pink collar and both have soft brown eyes. "Arden is three now and Riley is seven, both are girls." Grae explains further as Stiles goes down to pet the dogs, ending up getting a face full of dog tongue and slobber. Arden gave him a couple licks before turning to Scott for attention but Riley just kept licking his face, like it was her soul duty to lick his face clean.

Stiles came back up soon enough after Riley felt like her job was done. Grae giggles at the dog who goes ahead and plops down on the tile, her fat and fur spreading out. Meanwhile, Scott is giving Arden scratches near the base of her tail and she is in heaven.

"Looks like you found her sweet spot. Keep doing that and she'll love you till the day she dies." She turns and starts walking farther into the house, making the boys follow. There are boxes strewn everywhere and her mother is putting glasses away into the cabinets. She looks away from the cabinet and smiles.

"Hi, I'm Carey," she says, holding her hand out. Scott shakes first then Stiles. "Do you boys live around here?" She asks.

"Scott lives down the street from us," Grae speaks up and then looks at Stiles. "And I don't know about Stiles."

"I live closer to the school." He says and Carey nods.

"Well it was nice meeting you boys but I've gotta get back to unpacking. Grae, why don't you show them around the house." She suggests and Grae shrugs.

"Alright then. Follow me," she walks towards the stairs and the boys follow. A hallway met them at the top with three doors on each side and a door all the way on the end. All of the doors were open so they could guess whose room was which. The second room on the right held the teenage boy they had seen earlier on his bed with a DS in his hands. "That's my brother, Nathaniel. He's thirteen but has the mind of an eleven year old." She keeps on walking and in the room diagonal from Nathaniel is the little girl unpacking all of her stuffed animals. Graelynne smiles and out of nowhere runs into the room and picks the little girl up and throws her over her shoulder.

"Grae! Put me down!" The girl yells but instead Grae spins themselves around laughing.

"Nah, I think I'll keep you on my shoulder for the rest of the night," Grae says before walking back over to the boys. "Kasey, say hi to Scott and Stiles." She turns around for the girl.

"Hi Scott, hi Stiles. I didn't think that my sister would make friends so fast." Kasey says waving and the boys give each other a look. Grae puts Kasey down, but not before giving her a noogie. The girl squeals before being release to continue unpacking. Grae stands back up and looks at the two.

"Okay, my room next." She sighs and goes on down the hallway. She opens the last door on the left and the boys' mouths drop at the sight.

The room was probably the second biggest next the master bedroom but it was still big nonetheless. A king sized bed butts up into the right corner under the window with a white duvet spread precariously across it, multiple pillows on top. Posters are scattered across the walls across and to the right of them, ranging from movies to bands. A desk sits at the foot of the bed with multiple books and papers scattered across it, some looking like they'll spill off. But the best part about the entire room is the fact that there's a gigantic projector screen framed up on the wall across from the window. When they look up there's a projector suspended from the ceiling.

"Did you make the screen yourself?" Stiles asks as he walks in first, Scott following.

"Sure did. The job I had before paid pretty well for a fifteen year old going on sixteen. Movie nights are the best," she explains, a proud smile on her lips. "How old are you guys?" She asks, plopping down on one of the bean bags in the middle of the floor.

"Scott and I are both 16, we'll be sophomores are Beacon Hills High. How old are you?" Stiles asks, taking a seat on the desk chair.

"Just turned sixteen last week on the twenty-third," she answers, tilting her head. "So what's the big sport around here?" She asks.

"We're on the lacrosse team, football around here is a joke." Scott answers and she nods, but a second later her eyes light up.

"What's the best thing to do around here? Hitting the movies? Any parties that go on?" Her face is filled with curiosity. Scott and Stiles look at each other before shrugging.

"Not a lot really. Um, at the beginning of the year Lydia Martin throws a big party." Stiles explains and her smile gets wider.

"Awesome," she pauses before looking at the boxes filled with movies. "Do you guys wanna have a movie night?" She asks, her voice soft and filled with hope.

"Sure! We actually have a few movies that we rented for the night, I'm gonna run back and get them." Scott says before leaving. Stiles looks over at Grae and he can tell that asking them to stay for a movie night was a huge milestone for her. She looked content with herself, her face relaxed and eyes soft.

That night was the first of many movie nights to some for the three. The summer was filled with laughs and great first memories. They learned that her father had disappeared after Kasey had been born, leaving their mother to be the soul provider of the family with the help of her older brother Kaine who was in the army. He had taught her how to use a butterfly knife when she was eight, the spinning pieces of metal becoming her favorite toy. She's also an amazing softball player, her main position as a catcher even though she was a lefty. She was an interesting person to say the least. She loved to be sarcastic and was brilliant beyond belief, taking three AP classes at Beacon Hills High and she wanted to go to school to be a psychiatrist. She loved working out how the mind worked and why people branch out into different mind sets and personalities. Hell, she could practically read Stiles even with his ADHD.

But of course, their normal lives are about to be cut short when Stiles' dad leaves the house one night on a call of half a body being found.


	2. wolf moon; part 1

The tone of her phone drew her out of sleep, a string of curses falling out of her mouth. She doesn't care to look at the screen, knowing full well who it was.

"Bruh, what the fuck?" Her voice was low and slurred with sleep.

"Oh my God she's awake." She doubted she was meant to hear those words.

"No shit, Sherlock. You woke me up." She sighs, rolling over onto her back, eyes still closed.

"Well we need you to get ready, we're coming to get you." Stiles says and she groans.

"Is it that urgent that you wake me up the night before both of our tryouts? And what about Scott?" She asks, sitting up now.

"I'm picking him up now." Stiles explained and she groaned louder this time.

"I _hate_ you."

"Love you too, Grae. We'll be there in ten." Stiles then hung up, leaving her in the darkness of her room and Arden staring up at her from the foot of the bed.

"He just had to choose the night before tryouts, didn't he?" She asks the dog before getting up and going to the closet to get dressed in something more practical.

The blue jeep puled up in front of her house twelve minutes later. Grae pushed her window open, looking back at Arden, whose ears her up right and attentive.

"Arden, stay." She said slowly before stepping out on to the roof and closing it enough to where the dog couldn't get out. Her brown boots clacked along the shingles as she makes her way over to the oak tree next to the edge. Carefully and hopefully quietly, she makes her way down the base, jumping onto the lawn from the lowest branch. She readjusts her left boot before walking over to the Jeep. She hops in the back and they drive away.

The preserve was surprisingly well lit, not a cloud in sight, allowing the light of the full moon to illuminate the forest. Once they all climb out of the Jeep, Grae runs up to Stiles and smacks the back of his head, causing him to yelp and turn around.

"What the hell was that for?!" He yells, rubbing the back of his head. She hits hard.

"For dragging our asses out of bed at two in the morning to go on some wild goose chase." She explains in fury and he rolls his eyes.

"What was I supposed to do? Ignore the call and go back to sleep?" He asks like it was the craziest thing she had ever said.

"Yes, dumbass!" she yells, throwing her arms up in the air. "It's what any sane person is supposed to do when their father runs out of the house to respond to a mystery call in the middle of the night. But evidently your ass is so high on Adderall that you can't make the right decisions. You owe me a cookie from the lunch room for this." She walks off towards the forest, leaving the boys by the Jeep. Scott looks at Stiles with an unimpressed look, causing the latter to give one in return.

"What's that look for?" Stiles asks.

"You know Grae hates getting woken up by anything other than her alarm. You've forgotten when her brother went to go get her up when we came over and she nearly took his head off." Scott explains, starting to walk in Grae's direction.

"But there's a body!" He shouts and starts walking as well.

The only sound between the three is the sound of their breathing and the crunching of leaves underneath their feet. Stiles is in the front of the trio, scanning the ground with his eyes before Scott starts talking.

"I was trying to get a good night sleep before practice tomorrow."

"You're not the only one." Grae comments underneath her breath.

"Right, because sitting on the bench asks such a heavy effort." Stiles replies, sarcasm coating his words.

"No, because, I'm playing this year. In fact I'm playing first line." Scott retaliates, causing Grae is throw him a look.

"Hey, that's the spirit. Everyone should have a dream. Even if it's an unrealistic one." Stiles says, turning back around to keep looking.

"Hey, Stiles, question." Grae asks, already knowing the answer.

"Shoot."

"What half of the body are we looking for exactly?" She asks and she can hear Stiles take a sharp breath.

"Huh, didn't even think about that." Grae raises her eyebrows.

"And what if the one who killed the body is still out here?"

"Also something I didn't think about!" He answers and she sighs.

"Obviously." She whispers to Scott and he chuckles. The three continue walking up a hill, making Grae glad that she chose her combat boots instead of her heeled ones.

"It's comforting to know that you planned this up with your usual attention to details!" Scott ads and Grae laughs.

"I know!"

"It's a wonder how you're passing your classes." Grae comments as she moves a branch away from her face. Stiles gives her a ludicrous look.

"For your information, I am passing all of my classes _and_ playing a sport." She laughs.

"Right, because sitting on the bench asks such a heavy effort" She throws his words back at him with a smirk on her face. Her smirk is gone when she hears Scott's breathing become sharper and as he leans his back against a tree, reaching for his inhaler.

"Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight, huh?" Scott suggests as he takes a puff from the inhaler.

"Are you okay or should you we go back to the Jeep?" Grae asks, her attention entirely on Scott at the moment. Any trace of sarcasm she had earlier was gone, replaced by _Mama Bear Grae_.

"I'm good now. Let's keep going." The three walk to the top and then drop to the ground when they see the police with flashlights and K-9 units. Grae looks over to Stiles, a psychotic grin stretching across his face.

"Wait!" She hisses as he scrambles up.

"C'mon!" He says back, running.

"Stiles!" Scott yells and Grae shakes her head, pushing herself up and helping Scott up from the forest ground. The two start chasing after the boy, just a little bit behind. They keep a fairly good distance away from the cops as they skirt their way along the edge, Stiles always a few feet ahead. But soon enough, he bumps into a cop with a dog, falling to the ground. Scott and Grae quickly hide themselves behind two trees when they see Stiles' dad too.

"Hang on, this little delinquent belongs to me." He says, and even though she can't see him, she can bet that his face is one of annoyance. Leaves crumble as Stiles stands up.

"Dad, how're you doing?" Stiles asks and Grae rolls her eyes. The dog is starting to get annoying as it keeps barking.

"So uh, do you listen in to all of my phone calls?" Sheriff Stilinski asks and Grae peaks around the edge of the tree.

"No," Stiles give a nervous chuckle before continuing. "Well not the boring ones." He gives and she smacks her head on the tree at Stiles idiocy. Stiles' dad nods before looking around at the trees past him.

"Now where's your usual partners in crime?" He asks, still looking.

"Who, Scott and Grae? Their-their home. They said they wanted to get a good night sleep before their first day back at school tomorrow. Just me, in the woods, alone." He lies and she swears she could just melt into the tree at how obvious he is at lying. Sheriff takes his flashlight and starts looking closer now.

"Scott! Grae! You out there?" he yells, she and Scott whipping their heads back from the edge of the tree, hoping to not be seen. "Guys!" he yells once more before putting down the flashlight and sighing. "Well young man, I'm gonna walk you back to your car and you and I, are gonna have a conversation about something called invasion of privacy." They start walking off, her heart dropping into her stomach. _They're gonna be left here_. Scott looks around the tree once more to make sure and starts walking. She follow closely behind him. They don't say anything and it's not long before they hear a howl. Grae stop walking to look around, confused as to how the hell there was a wolf in California. Her head was only turned around for a second but when she goes to find Scott, he's nowhere to be seen. Her blood goes cold.

"Scott?" She yells, her heart starting to beat nervously. A shaky breath makes its way into her lungs but it only makes her panic slightly more. She starts walking faster now, her head whipping around, hoping to catch sight of him. But it isn't until she hears a shouting that she starts running. Icy air forces its way into her lungs as she sprints towards Scott, fear griping her in a vice. She almost stumbles over the other half of the body in her frantic search for Scott, and her fear is nearly suffocating.

"Scott!" she yells, heart racing at the thought that the killer had gotten one of her best friends too. "Scott!" She yells once more before going down the hill, hoping that he had gone down it as well. Her search proved fruitless after frantically searching. Just as she was about to turn back up to pull out her phone to call, she hears a growl in front of her. Her heart skips a beat, shear terror encasing her. Slowly she lifts up her head, brown eyes meeting blood red, making her mouth drop in terror. In front of her stood the biggest wolf she had ever seen. But, it looked deformed, as if it wasn't completely wolf, like something more. Her heart was thundering away in her chest as the creature starting circling her, like it was judging whether or not it wanted to do whatever it planned.

_"It's very interesting to see one of your kind manifest in this day and age."_ A voice spoke to her, but the wolf's mouth never moved.

"What?" She whispers, her eyes never leaving its.

_"I hope to meet you again soon."_ It said before running deeper into the forest. Grae drew in a shaky breath, then the tears spilled over. Her shaky hand dug its way frantically into her pocket, pulling out her phone. It took her three tries to type in her older brother's number. The phone rang twice before it was picked up.

"Grae? What are you doing calling this late?" Kaine's voice rumbled through the earpiece.

"I need you to pick me up at the entrance of the preserve." Her voice was shaking as she struggled to hold back her tears.

"What-what happened? Are you alright?" She could hear him shuffling around in his room.

"I'll explain everything once you get me, I promise." She said, turning around to head back up the hill and to the entrance.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes, just hang tight." He hangs up and she puts her phone back into her pocket. Her mind begins floating as she tries to cope with the fact that a fucking _wolf_ just spoke to her in her head instead of eating her. Wolves aren't supposed to be in California, nevertheless _speaking_ to her. She starts her walk to the preserve entrance, the only sound accompanying her is the sound of leaves crunching underneath her boots. Along her walk back she realizes a very vital detail: her beanie was missing from her head. She sighs, stopping abruptly to fend off the tears threatening to spill over. Too much was happening at the moment.

"Can this night get any worse." She whispers to herself before resuming her walk. Now, her head and ears were cold along with the fact that Scott's body could be laying somewhere on the forest ground.

She eventually reaches the entrance where Kaine was waiting for her in his white A6. She opens up the passenger door and quickly gets in, buckling her seat belt. Her brother pulls out onto the road, staying quiet to give her time to create an explanation.

"Stiles woke me up, dragging me and Scott to the woods because his dad was called in for half of a body being found in the woods. Stiles was caught and was sent back to his car, leaving Scott and I without a ride back home. I don't know where Scott is," she explains after a couple of minutes in silence. Her frozen fingers are in front of the air vents, trying to bring some warmth back into them. "And I lost my beanie." She exhales a shaky breath, concentrating so hard to not start bawling in her brother's car, Kaine's face a look of indifference but she knows that it's really his look of sympathy.

Kaine had signed up with the National Guard as soon as he graduated from high school, turned eighteen in the January before and had no desire to back to school. Grae was 9. He looked so much like their father that sometimes she has to do a double-take to make sure that it's really Kaine. He was from their father's first marriage when he was 21, had Kaine a year later and two years after that his mother and their father divorced. Their father raised him all by himself.

Grae and Kaine are the only ones that display the Native American heritage that their father passed onto them. Nathaniel and Kasey on the other hand, even with their ability to hold a tan, are not as dark and don't possess the darker eyes and rich brown hair like Grae and Kaine. Kasey's hair was a light brown and her eyes are sky blue along with Nathaniel, who had the same colored hair.

Kaine's car crawled to a stop a couple houses down from Grae's house to avoid waking up the dogs. As she unbuckles herself, Kaine turns towards her.

"Did anything else happen to you in the forest?" He asks, making her heart skip a beat at the memory of the wolf.

"No," it skips again. "Just worried about Scott." She keeps her eyes trained on the radio.

"I'm sure he's fine, don't sweat it. He's a smart kid. Now go to bed, you'll need it for tomorrow. Good luck." He says, a small smile ghosting his lips. She gives one in return before opening the door and getting out. He drives off, leaving her to walk back over to the tree next to the roof. Once she gets back into her room, Arden greets her with a flying tail.

"Hey girl." She scratches behind her ear before redressing in her pajamas, quickly crawling into bed. Arden hops up onto the bed, taking her spot at the foot of the bed. As sleep begins to sweep over her, she swears Arden begins to growl at something outside of her window.


	3. wolf moon; part 2

Saying the next morning was hectic was an understatement. Kasey was running around in her night shirt while her mother was trying to get her to sit down for breakfast and Grae had only been out of bed for five minutes. Nathaniel was running trying to finish his poptart in one hand while he tried to tie his shoes with the other, which of course was impossible. Grae was almost catatonic at the dinning room table, hair precariously in a messy bun, watching everyone with bleary eyes. Her mother finally slowed down enough to notice her daughter's mannerisms.

"Grae, sweetheart, what time did you go to bed last night?" She asked, her eyes showing concern for the teenager.

"Not late at all. Woke up around two and couldn't get back to sleep easily after that." Grae nearly mumbled but Carey understood her clearly.

"Well, I'll leave you a few bucks to swing by Starbucks to grab a coffee and a treat if you want. Don't want you falling asleep in class today, or during tryouts." Carey says and Grae nods, then looks up at her.

"I'm gonna go get ready. I'll see you after tryouts." She says, grabbing the cash before heading back upstairs. Once in her room, she hooked her phone up to the speaker sitting in the corner of her room, selecting her _Get Ready_ playlist on Spotify. _Mustang Kids_ starts streaming through the speakers loud enough to get her to wake up. Walking over to her open closet, she picks out a muscle shirt along with a pair of jeans. Just because it was the first day at school does not mean that she has to dress to impress everyone. She didn't want to; too much work for people she would never hang out with. After getting dressed she goes into the bathroom, brushing her teeth and straightening her hair, singing along to Five Finger Death Punch's _Anywhere But Here._

"I'd rather be anywhere, anywhere, anywhere but here." She sang along, turning off her iron before opening up her drawer, pulling out various makeup products. She did her makeup like she has everyday: slightly smokey brown. She walked back into her room, grabbing her keys, phone and wallet. Music was still streaming out of her phone in her back pocket as she walked down the stairs and into the living room, snagging her backpack and brown leather jacket before heading to the garage.

Sitting in the garage next to her truck was her pride and joy; a dark blue 1977 KZ650C1. Kaine salvaged the bike from a junkyard a couple years ago, wanting it to be something that he and Grae could work on together as she very early sixteenth birthday present. That, and it was what Kaine did with their father, deciding it would be good to pass it down.

It was a gorgeous bike and it was _her's_.

She pulls her hair into a low pony tail before slipping on the black helmet resting on one of the handles. She turned on it's bluetooth, hooking it up to her phone, selecting on her Ride playlist and instantly heavy metal music ranging from Five Finger Death Punch to Three Days Grace to Seether began streaming through the speakers in her helmet. She opened up the garage door, closed it again and sped off.

~

To say heads were turned would be a understatement. As soon as Grae pulled into the school parking lot, people began whispering to their nearby friends, staring at the new girl pulling in on a motorcycle. Grae quickly finds a spot next to a white Porsche, seeing Scott being talked down to by Jackson.

Her body nearly sags in relief when she sees the puppy-eyed teen, thankful that he hadn't fallen victim to the wolf.

When she pulls in she revs the engine, making her friend jump and Jackson's head snap up. She parks the bike and turns it off, taking off her helmet, letting her hair come loose. She gets off and walks up to the three boys, Bitch Mode™ activated. Jackson locks eyes with Grae, making a fatal mistake.

"Hey, tell your idiot friend here to watch where he's going. He just about scratched my car." He seethes, but Grae's demeanor never falters.

"I couldn't give two flying fucks about the car that your mommy and daddy bought for you. Now, if you could step out of our faces that would be great." Her voice clipping at the end as she speaks to Jackson, his face a look of surprise.

"Yo, Jackson! Let's go, bro!" Their eyes shift to one of Jackson's many douchebag friends. Jackson looks back at the girl once more before walking away, staring down Scott as he leaves. Grae turns to look at Scott, who's mouth was dropped open.

"Holy. Shit. That was awesome. You just total told Jackson to go screw himself." Scott says, making Grae smile.

"It's what I do best." She smiles, tucking her helmet underneath her arm. Scott smiles at her before they start walking off.

"Stiles asked me to meet him to look at the bite I got last night." Scott says as they make their way over to the side of the school. Grae's eyes widen as her head snaps to look at her friend.

"You got bit? By what?" She asks, concern etched in her words.

"I'll tell you and Stiles at the same time." Scott says before gesturing to their spastic friend.

The pair walk up to the antsy brunet who had been waiting for them.

"So, let's see this thing." Stiles says before Scott drops his bag and raises up his shirt to reveal a large white patch of gauze secured with medical tape. Grae's eyes widen at the sight, her lax stance shifting into one of protectiveness. Stiles makes a noise that sounds too close to awe. His hand brushes the patch.

"Woah!" Scott cautions.

"Holy hell, Scott. You didn't tell me it was this bad." She asks, her voice quiet.

"It was too dark to see very much, but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf." The last words sends Grae reeling back into the memories of the night before, of the wolf-thing talking to her in her head, its red eyes staring right into her's. Next to her, Stiles' face turns into one of extreme disbelief.

"A wolf bit you?" He asks as they start making their way to the entrance of the school.

"Uh huh."

"No, not a chance." Stiles retaliates, making Scott scoff.

"I heard a wolf howling." Scott tries to defend before Stiles crushes it once more.

"No you didn't." Stiles states matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean no I didn't? How do you know what I heard?" Scott asks frustrated. Stiles laughs, starting to say more before Grae butts in.

"Because California doesn't have wolves. They haven't in like, sixty years." She says, stopping Stiles from being an ass to his friend.

"Really?" Scott asks, his resolve faltering.

"Yes really. There are no wolves in California." Stiles repeats.

"Alright, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not gonna believe me about when I tell you, I found the body." Scott has a smirk on his face as Stiles jerks in surprise, Grae's eyes widening.

"You kidding me?" He asks at the same time she says, "You're shitting me."

"No, I wish. I'm gonna have nightmares for a month."

"That is frickin' awesome. I mean this is seriously the best thing that has happened to this town since-" Stiles' eyes catch Lydia as she walks past them. Grae sighs at her love-sick friend as his attention is diverted to her. "-since the birth of Lydia Martin. Hey Lydia, you look-" He tries getting her attention but of course to no avail. "-like you're gonna ignore me." He trails off as she makes her way into the school. Grae snickers as Stiles stomps his foot, looking back at Scott. "You're the cause of this ya' know." He blames.

"Uh huh."

"Dragging me down to your nerd depths."

"Uh huh."

"I'm a nerd by association." The bell rings as he continues giving his mantra to Scott, making Grae laugh, following along next to her friends. "I'm scarlet-nerded by you." He continues as they make their way into the school.

As soon as the doors open, they're hit with yells of both joy and desperation.

"Ah, the sound of Hell Day." Grae retorts as they walk down the hall, causing Scott and Stiles to laugh.

"At least we don't have AP Bio with Harris first period." Scott says, causing the smile to vanish off of the girl's face.

"I've hear such horrible things about him, I'm honestly terrified. Last year at my old school I had a Spanish teacher that was so horrible and mean that even the native speakers hated the holy hell out of her. She victimized you if you were absent and it was the worst year of my life. I had more anxiety in that class than my AP class. It was absolute torture that semester."

"Semester?" Stiles inquires.

"I dropped that class the first chance I had, which was an opening in PE after a student left." The three came to the intersection before splitting off to their classes.

Grae's palms started sweating as she got closer to the classroom. She opened up the door, noticing that it was only Harris in the room at the moment. He looks up briefly before looking back down at his computer.

"Sit anywhere, after today I'll be making a seating chart to keep you heathens under control." He says, venom in his words already. Grae quickly makes her way to a seat towards the front next to the window so she can at least have some form of escape during the year. She sets down her bag, opening it up to pull out a sheet of paper and a pen, going up to Harris.

"What." He asks, not looking up.

"The guidance counselor wants my teachers to sign this to make sure that they know if I, for some reason, leave the classroom without warning that it's fine, it would just be my AD flaring up." Grae states, her voice wavering slightly as she holds out the pen and paper. Harris glances up before taking the pen and paper, signing quickly before giving it back. Grae goes back to her seat, sitting down and pulling out Darkfall. So far, AP Bio is not as bad as she has expected.

~

Hell Day actually turned out not to be . . . hellish. Her teachers seemed pretty chill, all except for Harris, who Grae was still trying to figure out. But other than him, Beacon Hills High seemed pretty cool.

Stiles and Scott had already left to get ready for lacrosse tryouts when she walked into the girls' locker room. There were a few in the room already getting changed for softball, some who seemed to be seasoned players and others . . . not so much.

_Just because they don't look it, doesn't mean they still can't kick your ass._ Her brother's words floated in her head from her seventh grade year, which was the year she almost didn't make varsity. It was a wake up call for Grae.

She quickly pulled on her pair of black Easton's after putting on burgundy socks, pairing it with a grey muscle top from a camp she went to a couple years ago, tucking the sleeve ends underneath her sports bra straps. She threw on her visor from her old travel ball team, her gray Nike's before heading out to the field.

Two women were already at the field, setting stuff up for tryouts. One was tall with short brown hair, quite fit as well and the other was around Grae's height (5'4") with long blonde hair and was rather filled out. Grae walked into the dugout and hung her back up on the fence before swapping her sneaks for her cleats. The tall coach came into the dugout, smiling when her eyes landed on Grae. Grae gives one in return before going back to lace up the last cleat. The woman walk up to her as she stands up, brushing off her pants.

"You must be new here. I'm Coach O'Donnel and the other is Coach Haverdly but the girls just call us Coach O and Coach H. What's your name?" She asks, her voice warm. She holds out to her hand, which Grae takes.

"Graelynne Nashoba but I go by Grae. I'm from Michigan."

"Team and positions?"

"Saginaw Bay River Dawgs. Pitcher, catcher and center." Grae answers, making the woman smile.

"Can't wait to see how you do." She walks away, leaving Grae with a feeling of hope. Today may just go well.

Soon enough the others filed out onto the field, all pairing up quickly. Grae found a shorter hispanic girl with a wild personality and was smiling constantly. Almost like a small, female, hispanic version of Stiles. Her name was Catherine.

"Alright! Everyone come here!" Coach O'Donnel shouted from home plate. Everyone ran up, circling the two coaches. "I know that most of you guys have played with us for a long time, but that doesn't mean any of these new girls can make you tuck your tails and run to the hills. We're gonna start with fielding. Go to a position other than pitching and catching." She finishes and Grae and Catherine race out to left and center field, getting ready.

"Runners on first, one out!" The Coach H shouts before hitting a ball towards left center. As Grae runs over towards left and one thing she finds out about Catherine, is that she's extremely fast.

"Mine!" Catherine yells, making Grae go behind to back her up. She catches it with ease, flipping her body to throw to third. The ball bounces in once, letting the third baseman apply a ghost tag.

"Nice." Grae says, bumping the girl's fist. She winks before jogging back to left.

The rest went fairly well. Grae was fielding and throwing great, making the right plays and such. But of course, it wasn't until a short fly ball was hit that she really had to try.

Her legs propelled her forward, already knowing what she was going to have to do. She stretches out her glove, legs pressing forward and before she knows it, she's laying out for the fly ball. The ball lands soundly into her glove as she skids across the grass, shouts of excitement could be heard from around the field as she stood up. She stands up and throws the ball to the second baseman, proceeding to brush herself off like it was no big deal, but she could feel a smile tugging at her lips. Other cheers could be hear away from the field, making Grae look up.

Scott and Stiles were standing on the first base fence cheering for their friend. Grae gives a thumbs up in their direction before focusing her attention back to the coaches who were giving orders.

"Catchers gear up and pair up with a pitcher to warm up!" Coach O shouts from the dugout. Grae runs off of the grass outfield and into the dugout, pulling out her black and maroon catchers gear.

"Hey, you're the new girl, right?" A voice pulls her head up, brown eyes meeting green. The girl was a tall, slender blonde, her body closely resembling one of a barbie.

"Yeah, I'm Grae." She gives a nod at the girl.

"I'm Ashe. It's nice to have another catcher to pair up evenly with. Where are you from?" Grae tucks her helmet under her arms as they make their way out of the dugout and onto the grass just past the outfield fence.

"I'm from Michigan. My mom was transferred here by her work." Grae says, slipping on her helmet and getting into a squatting position, glove out. Ashe sets herself up about three feet away before dropping her glove and placing her right hand on her left wrist to get the flicks down.

"Where in Michigan?" Ashe asks as she gives the first flick.

"Saginaw. I was the catcher and pitcher for the Saginaw Bay River Dawgs."The ball is tossed back.

"You're a pitcher and a catcher?" Ashe asks, looking down at Grae's hands, her eyes widening. "You're a lefty catcher?"

"Yeah, I really wanted to be a catcher despite what all of the other coaches I tried out for were telling me. They said I would never be able to get the spin down to throw to third short enough. And they didn't care that I would have an easier time throwing to first. Until I met my coach for the River Dawgs, Coach Megan. She was also a catcher in high school but the college that gave her a scholarship weren't interested in a lefty so they made her a first baseman," Grae smiles. "She was the one that pushed me forward."

"That's really cool. It'll be interesting to see how you play." Ashe smiles before going back to warming up. Once Ashe was warm, they headed back into the dugout to hangout for a bit before they needed them. The process went as any other pitcher-catcher evaluation went. Curves, rises, fast balls; throw downs to first, second and third, trickplays even.

As Grae set up for another play, she could hear the coaches arguing over something.

"I don't _care_ if she's good. She's a lefty and it won't work in games, she can't do it."

"She has as much of an advantage as anyone else. Let her continue." 

The coaches were arguing over whether or not she should continue as a catcher, making Grae's blood boil. She was not going to put up with this shit. She got up and walked up to Ashe who was giving her a look.

"What are you doing?" Ashe asks and Grae shushes her, putting her glove over her mouth.

"Coach H doesn't like that I'm a lefty catcher, so we are going to pull a play that I used to do with the River Dawgs. Are you comfortable with that?" Grae asks, her voice all serious. Ashe nods. Grae looks over at the shortstop, calling her over. Grae looks at the girl. "Alright, we're doing a trick play called Legs, which means I want you to cover for second no matter what," she looks at Ashe."Pitch me a ball that's going to make me have to jump up to catch it. I want the ball high, high enough to wear the runner on first thinks it's going to go past. Do you trust me?" Grae asks and Ashe and the girl nods their heads again. "Okay." Grae pulls her glove off her face and gives Ashe a smirk and a wink before going back to the plate. She crouches down, stealing a glance of the confused coaches in her peripheral. 

As Ashe starts her wind up, Grae sets herself up as well. The ball flies up above her head, making her leap a good three feet up off the ground, snagging the ball before sending the ball down to second while she's still in the air. Her body twists as she throws the ball and as she comes back down she can feel the gift of satisfaction.

Her play worked perfectly. The runner was caught in a pickle when she realized that the ball _was_ sent down to second. She was tagged out and Grae smirked in satisfaction, looking over at the coaches. Coach O was smiling in pride and Coach H's eyes were wide with disbelief.

"Grae, that was amazing!" Ashe comes up to her with a smile on her face.

"You trusted me, without that the play wouldn't have worked." Grae responds, causing Ashe to shake her head.

"No, that was all you, dude."

"Grae and Ashe!" The girls looked over at Coach O. "Get your bats and helmets." The girls smiled before going into the dugout.

Ashe was an extremely effective slapper, it was like second nature to the girl to get the ball where she wanted. It was a base hit every time. But Grae on the other hand, was having a little trouble. The balls were either soft bloopers or foul, causing the girl to become agitated with herself.

"What the he-" The word almost slipped before Coach O came up to her, making her jaw snap shut.

"Your weight, shift it." She says before stepping away. Grae looks at her confused, testing her swing, when she suddenly feels it. And the next hit is driven to right field, an easy triple. A large smile breaks out on the girl's face as the next few hits are hard line drives to the outfield. Cheers from Scott and Stiles could be heard, making her confidence soar even higher.

"Alright, two more." Coach H says. The pitch comes in hot but she is able to drive it out and away, her heart lifting at the hope of it being-

It hits the fence.

-not gone. She grits her teeth before getting back into the batter's box, setting up. The pitcher's windup starts, causing Grae to load and when her bat comes into contact with the ball, she can feel it with every fiber in her body that this one for sure is going over. And it does. Her friends on the fence are going crazy and the girls on the team are cheering for her. Her heart is light with joy and a smile is still on her face.

It's been a good Hell Day.


End file.
